Meet the Governors

How the governing body works

The governing body at Bayford is responsible for setting the school’s vision, developing strategy and policy, monitoring the school’s effectiveness in implementing that strategy and policy, approving the school’s budget and monitoring management accounts, agreeing a staffing structure, and generally working alongside the Headteacher and other staff to support them and act as critical friends.

Individual governors take on specific roles and responsibilities for various aspects of our school life, and to help them do that governors also undertake training. All governors receive an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check on appointment, which is regularly renewed.

You can read our Instrument of Government (constitution, currently dating from February 2024) using the link below and our Code of Conduct which all governors must sign each year. You can also read a copy of our Trust Deed from 1857 which still requires us to be a Church of England school serving the local community, although it allows us to provide adult education too!

Governors meet once or twice a term as a full governing body, but all governors also serve on one of our two permanent sub-committees, which meet regularly through the year (dates for all meetings are posted on this site on the school calendar). If you click on the Terms of Reference button, you can read the terms of reference for the governing body and all its committees, but if that’s too much information, you can read a summary of what the committees do here:

Resources Committee

Deals with issues around finance, premises management and staffing, including pay policy, health and safety, security, maintenance, budget setting and monitoring, insurance, and this web site.

School Improvement Committee

Deals with all aspects of teaching and learning, pupil welfare and behaviour, both monitoring the school’s day to day work and supporting staff in planning for future developments.

Other committees

There are also other committees and panels which only meet as and when required in response to any specific issues (such as a complaints or discipline and grievance panel), and less formal working groups to develop our response to new challenges and opportunities.

Meet our governors

Governors don;t just attend formal meetings, they come into school regularly to meet with staff, develop their understanding of different aspects of school life, and monitor their particular areas of responsibility.

Governors come with a wide range of skills and expertise from their lives outside school, and include representatives of the staff and parents, the local community, and the church. Being a governor is an entirely voluntary role.

You can contact the governors through the school office.

You can meet all the governors below. Here’s a key to the entries under each governor’s name:

• Term: is the governor’s current term of office (govenors may have served previous terms of office, or may serve as governors through their role, like the Headteacher).
• Attendance: The percentage for attendance is a record of each governor’s attendance at meetings (full governing body and the two main committees) in the previous school year (‘n/a’ means the governor has not yet served a full school year). The Department for Education requires us to publish this information.

If a governor has any relevant business or financial interests to declare they will be listed below.